Col. Gen. Oleksandr Syrskyi made the statement on Monday, the Reuters news agency reported.
He said: "The enemy switched to so-called scorched earth tactics from Syria. It is destroying buildings and positions with air strikes and artillery fire."
Syrskyi added, however, that Ukraine’s defence of Bakhmut continued.
"The situation is difficult but controllable," he stated.
Syrskyi, who is overseeing Ukraine’s military operation in the east of the country, on Sunday visited the hottest areas of the Bakhmut front, according to officials.
He listened to reports from the commanders of military units, and also made operational decisions and set tasks on the spot, the Ukrainska Pravda website reported.
Syrskyi also said that Russia was strengthening its attack on Bakhmut with special forces and airborne assault units, according to Reuters.
He added that members of Russia's private Wagner military group, who had led the assault on Bakhmut, had become "exhausted" by Ukrainian troops, Ukrainska Pravda reported.
Ukraine has said that its defence of Bakhmut is inflicting huge losses on the Russian army and allowing Kyiv’s forces to prepare for a spring offensive, Reuters reported.
Ukrainian forces have hung on for months in the small city in eastern Donetsk region, where the most intense fighting of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine has killed thousands of soldiers and been dubbed the "meat-grinder," according to Reuters.
Meanwhile, the Russian-installed head of the Moscow-controlled part of the Donetsk region, Denis Pushilin, claimed on Monday that Russian forces controlled more than 75 percent of Bakhmut, Britain’s The Guardian newspaper reported.
Ukraine calls on India to help end Russian invasion
Ukraine’s First Deputy Foreign Minister Emine Dzhaparova has said that Kyiv would like India to be engaged and involved in helping resolve its conflict with Russia “to a great extent,” according to The Guardian.
Dzhaparova on Monday began a four-day visit to India, making her the first Ukrainian minister to travel to India since Russia’s invasion, The New Delhi Television reported on its website.
She said that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky had requested a phone conversation with India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi, The Guardian reported.
Russia to call for ceasefire in Ukraine during Orthodox Easter?
Russia may call for a ceasefire in Ukraine during the Orthodox Easter on April 16 to delay Ukraine’s counterattack, the Euronews outlet reported on Monday evening.
A ceasefire would be favourable for Russian forces, allowing them to secure their gains in Bakhmut and reinforce their defences ahead of Ukraine’s anticipated spring counteroffensive, according to the Institute for the Study of War, a US think tank.
The ISW noted that Russia had sought a ceasefire over the Orthodox Christmas period to buy time to prepare for its winter offensive.
Meanwhile, Russia refused to issue a ceasefire during Easter last year in order to maintain initiative in the battle for Ukraine’s southern city of Mariupol, the ISW said.
Tuesday is day 412 of Russia’s war on Ukraine.
(pm/gs)
Source: PAP, Reuters, Ukrainska Pravda, The Guardian, NDTV, Euronews, ISW